BIWABIK-Alex Stone saved her best for last.
The Pequot Lakes High School senior, who skis for the Brainerd Warriors, finished her career with an all-state eighth-place finish in Wednesday's state meet at Giants Ridge.
It's her best finish at state as she placed 10th last year and 13th the season before. It's her third all-state finish.
"I just came into today and I knew it was going to be a challenging field," said Stone. "I just wanted to improve from my last year finish at state. I was just going to try my best and my first run was really good."
Stone got out of the gates early as she posted a sixth-best 38.87 on her first run. Nellie Ide of Blake skied the top girls time of 36.70. Ide also owned the fastest second run to win the state individual title. Stone skied the ninth-fastest second run with her 39.45.
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"I still went into the second run with the same game plan," Stone said. "I just didn't do as well on the pitch and I got bumped back a couple of places, but I'm still really happy with how I finished today. I improved from last year."
Stone will shift to her spring sport as she's taking a family vacation to Florida and bringing her golf clubs. Brainerd head coach Jim Ruttger was pleased with how she finished her career.
"Her first run was on Helsinki, which is kind of the steeper of the two runs. It's more challenging terrain," said Ruttger. "You want to get that one under your belt and have a good run. She was sitting in sixth, but it was tight. The spread between third and eighth place was about 7/10s of a second.
"Eighth place out of that field is a pretty good result."
Teammate Grace McGuire's first-run time of 43.07 had her sitting in 45th place. She fell one spot to 46th after laying down the 50th-fastest second run with her 43.53.
"Grace, on that first run, she looked like she was skiing it defensively and maybe not committing to the line as well as she could have," Ruttger said. "She does things in training that we didn't see today. I think she felt she left a little bit back there, but again, she was seeded 26th and you hope that's about where you're going to finish."
Payge Fitterer landed in 61st place with an opening run of 44.71. She jumped up to 57th place thanks to a 44.91 second run. It was the 58th-fastest second run.
"Payge improved from her seed position," Ruttger said. "She had a couple of solid runs. She finished 65th the last time she competed so she moved up from that and we'll get both those girls back for next year."
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In the boys meet, Cal Madison was 44th after the first run with a 41.89. He skied the 49th-fastest second run with a 44.65, but it helped the first-year state competitor move up to 41st overall.
"We are so impressed with him," said Ruttger. "He was hoping to crack the top 50 and he was pretty happy with his 41st-place finish as a ninth-grader."
Grant Kosobud was nine spots back of Madison on his first run with a 53rd-place 43.33. Trouble on his second run moved the senior back to 67th.
"He had a great first run," said Ruttger. "He struggled on the second run. He went down and had to hike back up because he missed a gate. I think he had a 1:05 on his second, but that was because of a couple falls. He was disappointed in his second run. He skied solid. He improved on his seed position."
Elliott Boman of Northfield was the early leader as he put down a 37.24 first run. The Cannon Falls student won the individual title with a 1:14.53.
Minnetonka won the boys team title. Chisago Lakes captured the girls team title.
Boys team scores: 1-Minnetonka 166, 2-Edina 151, 3t-Cook County 141, 3t-Stillwater 141, 3t-Breck 141, 5-Breck 141, 6-St. Thomas Academy 122, 7-West Mankato 96, 8-Washburn 64,
Individual winner: Elliott Boman (Lakeville North) 1:14.53
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Brainerd results: 41-Cal Madison 1:26.54, 67-Grant Kosobud 1:49.25
Girls team scores: 1-Chisago Lakes 152, 2-Lakeville North 143, 3-West Mankato 136, 4-Orono 134, 5-Minneapolis Southwest 28, 6-Minnetonka 121, 7-Blake 111, 8-Stillwater 91,
Individual winner: Nellie Ide (Blake) 1:13.63
Brainerd results: 8-Alex Stone 1:18.32, 46-Grace McGuire 1:26.60, 57-Payge Fitterer 1:26.62
